February 16, 2012

An all-star line up boosted by a strong North Island contingent will contest the South Island Show Jumping Championships in Christchurch with three days of action-packed show jumping starting tomorrow.

Amongst the entries are three Ashburton riders looking to make amends after the New Zealand National Show Jumping Championships last weekend.
Fresh from a treble of titles at the nationals, two-time Olympian Daniel Meech heads the strong line-up in the South Island senior horse grand prix, but Ashburton’s Susie Hayward will be out for redemption.
Meech and his starry mare Argento will undoubtedly start favourites but Hayward and Andretti have every chance of getting up for the win.
After two days of tough competition, Meech went into the final round with two rails in-hand over Hayward and Andretti at the nationals.
Hayward applied the pressure in the first round with a stunning clear round while Meech’s two fences brought his lead to just 0.5 of a penalty going into the penultimate round.
However, things got the better of Andretti in the second round incurring 12 faults, leaving Meech to win his first nationals since 1995.
A week on and Hayward will still be ruing the 12 fault round and she will be determined to make amends and push Meech for the South Island title.
The pony grand prix will be one of the strongest competitions of the event with the top riders from the nationals back in action in the 14-strong field, including two Ashburton riders also out to improve on their efforts.
Kimberley Bird on Showtym Image finished fifth while Lucinda Askin and Totem came in sixth at the nationals and both will aim for cleaner rounds this weekend against a tough field. Ohoka’s Olivia Robertson on Mr Black Magic came from second on the first day to win the pony grand prix at the nationals, taking just one rail over the entire competition.
Hawke’s Bay visitor Emily Fraser (Takapau) took second and third with Tony The Pony and Tiger Tale LS respectively, and will be looking to go one better with her two rides after playing bridesmaid at the nationals.
The other series classes will also be hotly contested with strong classes across the board, but while they’ll be watched with interest, all eyes will be on the two Futurity Stakes and the prize money up for grabs in each class.
A Canterbury Show Jumping initiative, the futurity classes are for horses that have not been placed in the first three between August 1, 2010 and December 31, 2011 at the starting height or above. Horses compete in qualifying rounds to go through to the final on Sunday.
Both classes have attracted strong line-ups with 29 to contest the Futurity 1.20m and 36 combinations to do battle for the Futurity 1.10m.
The South Island Show Jumping Championships starts tomorrow and runs through to Sunday.